Weight-Loss Drugs May Lower Cancer Risk, New Studies Suggest

A series of studies presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago suggests that weight-loss drugs may help prevent cancer and reduce the risk of death from it. The strongest signals came in breast cancer, where the drugs appeared linked both to fewer new cases and to better survival.

According to the findings, women who took GLP-1 drugs had a 30 percent lower risk of developing breast cancer than women who did not use them. Another study found that women with breast cancer who took a weight-loss drug alongside standard treatment had a 30 percent lower risk of dying from the disease.

A separate study reported that patients with breast, lung, colon or liver cancer who used weight-loss drugs had a 50 percent lower risk of the disease spreading. The results were presented by Dr. Elizabeth McDonald, a professor of radiology at the University of Pennsylvania and a breast radiologist at the Abramson Cancer Center.

McDonald stressed that the research was observational and did not prove a definitive link between GLP-1 drugs and lower breast cancer rates. Still, she said it adds to growing evidence that the medicines should be studied as a possible cancer-prevention tool. She added that GLP-1 drugs are interesting for cancer research because they were not designed to treat cancer, but appear to affect many pathways involved in cancer development.